Chapter 5
The walk to the main road took two hours.
We moved only through the thickest woods.
Mia led the way.
Jax took the rear.
Leo walked in the middle, between Elena and me.
He didn’t complain once.
His little legs must have been screaming.
But he never slowed down.
Never asked to be carried.
Just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
We found Mia’s old pickup truck hidden under a tarp half a mile from where the cabin used to be.
She had stashed it there months ago.
Just in case.
“Everyone in,” she said. “We’ve got a two-hour drive to the city. And we need to be there before sunrise.”
We piled in.
The truck smelled like oil and pine.
It was loud.
Uncomfortable.
But it ran.
Halfway down the mountain, Leo fell asleep.
His head resting on Elena’s shoulder.
For the first time all day, he looked like what he really was.
A little boy.
Tired.
Scared.
Alone.
Elena stroked his hair.
Tears ran down her face.
She didn’t make a sound.
Zero was typing furiously on her laptop in the back.
“I’ve been into Adrian’s personal email,” she said quietly. “You’re not going to believe this.”
“What?” Jax said.
“Adrian didn’t act alone. All twelve board members were in on it. They voted. Ten to two to kill Richard and take over the company. The two who voted no… they died in ‘accidents’ the next day. Car crash. Heart attack. Both within twenty-four hours of the vote.”
“Jesus,” Marcus whispered.
“There’s more,” Zero said. “This has been planned for over a year. They slowly drained money out of the company into offshore accounts. Thirty billion dollars. With a B. They were going to let Voss Financial collapse, declare bankruptcy, wipe out all the shareholders and pension funds, and walk away with the money. Richard found out three weeks ago. He was going to turn them all in to the SEC. That’s why they moved early. That’s why they took him.”
“Is Richard…” Elena couldn’t finish the question.
Zero hesitated.
“I don’t know. There are payments. Weekly. To a private facility outside the country. Large amounts. And there are references in the emails to ‘the asset.’ They keep saying ‘the asset is still useful.’ I think… I think they might be keeping him alive.”
Elena gasped.
Leo stirred.
But didn’t wake up.
“If he’s alive,” Jax said, “we find him. We get him back.”
“First things first,” Mia said. “We meet Rook. We get the proof from the vault. Then we burn every single one of those bastards to the ground.”
We reached the city as the sun was coming up.
Gray light over the skyline.
The old warehouse on 11th was in the meatpacking district.
Abandoned for years.
Boarded up.
Covered in graffiti.
Mia pulled around the back.
She flashed her headlights three times.
A steel roll-up door rattled open.
We drove inside.
The door slammed shut behind us.
Total darkness for a second.
Then lights came on.
Dozens of them.
Strung from the ceiling.
And standing in the middle of the warehouse, surrounded by crates of weapons and men with guns, was Rook Voss.
He was tall.
Taller than Richard had been.
Broad shoulders.
Silver hair pulled back in a ponytail.
A scar ran from his left eyebrow down across his cheek to his jawline.
He was wearing black jeans and a black leather jacket.
He looked like he had stepped out of an action movie.
He looked exactly like an older, harder version of Leo.
His eyes locked on the sleeping boy in Elena’s arms.
Something changed in his face.
The hardness softened.
Just a little.
He walked over.
Elena woke Leo gently.
Leo blinked.
Looked up.
Saw Rook.
He didn’t flinch.
He didn’t hide behind Elena.
He just looked at the big man.
Rook knelt down.
Now they were eye to eye.
“Your dad used to sneak me into your room when you were a baby,” Rook said. His voice was deep and rough. Like he didn’t speak much. “Said I needed to learn how to be an uncle. I held you once. You were so small you fit in the palm of my hand. You grabbed my finger and you wouldn’t let go. Your dad laughed so hard he cried.”
Leo stared at him.
“Dad said you were dead.”
“Your dad told everyone I was dead ten years ago. It was the only way to keep me safe. The things I’ve done… the people I’ve hurt… they would have used me against him. Faked my death. Stayed off the grid. Worked in the shadows. Watched over you and your dad from a distance. All these years. I was always there. You just couldn’t see me.”
He held out his hand.
“Your dad is my little brother. And those men took him from us. They hurt him. They want to hurt you too. And I am going to make them pay for every single second of pain they’ve caused this family. But I need you to be brave. I need you to be stronger than you’ve ever been. Can you do that for me, kid?”
Leo took his hand.
Shook it.
Firm.
No hesitation.
“When do we start?”
Rook actually smiled.
A real smile.
“Right now.”
The next six hours were a blur of activity.
Rook had fifteen men with him.
All former special forces.
All loyal to the Voss family.
They had guns.
Body armor.
Explosives.
Vans.
Everything we needed.
Zero set up her command center on a folding table.
She had six screens running now.
Cameras all over the city.
Live feeds from inside 1407 Broadway.
She had hacked every system in the building.
“I have eyes everywhere,” she said. “Every camera. Every microphone. Every elevator. Adrian is on the forty-second floor right now. He’s in a meeting with four of the other board members. They’re celebrating. Talking about the yacht they’re going to buy with the money. Talking about what they’re going to do to Richard when they’re done with him.”
“Where is Richard being held?” Rook asked.
“Working on it. The payments go to a shell company. That goes to another shell. That goes to a bank in Switzerland. I’m tracing it backward. Give me a few more hours.”
Rook turned to his men.
“Okay, listen up! Here’s how this goes down. At 1:45 a.m., we hit the building. Three teams. Team Alpha—Jax, Marcus, three of my guys. You take the lobby. Neutralize security. Hold the main doors. Nobody gets in. Nobody gets out. Team Bravo—Mia, me, four others. We go up the freight elevator shaft. We hit forty-two. We secure the floor. We get Leo to the vault. We get the proof. Team Charlie—you’re with Zero. You hold the van. You monitor every camera. You warn us the second anything goes wrong. Any questions?”
Nobody said anything.
“Good. Move out at 1:30. Until then—rest. Eat. Check your weapons. And for the love of God—try not to get killed. My brother would never forgive me if I let anything happen to his son.”
That afternoon, Leo and I sat on a crate by the window.
Watching the traffic go by below.
“Rook scares me a little,” I admitted.
Leo nodded.
“Good. He’s supposed to. Dad said the scariest people in the world are the ones who love you enough to do anything to protect you.”
He was quiet for a minute.
“Is my dad really alive?”
“I don’t know, Leo. But Zero thinks so. And if she says it… it’s probably true.”
“If he is alive… I’m going to find him. No matter what. No matter how long it takes. No matter how many people I have to go through.”
He pulled the silver gun from his waistband.
Checked it.
Put it back.
“I just want my dad back.”
For the first time since the bank, I saw tears in his eyes.
He didn’t let them fall.
He blinked them back.
Hard.
But I saw them.
At 1:25 a.m., we moved.
Black vans with tinted windows.
No license plates.
We parked three blocks from 1407 Broadway.
The city was quiet.
Most people were asleep.
Only the yellow cabs and the drunks were still out.
Leo was wearing a tiny bulletproof vest Rook had found for him.
It was too big.
But it would stop a bullet.
He had his gun.
He had his father’s letter.
He was ready.
“Remember,” Rook said to him. “You stay behind me the whole time. You do exactly what I say. If I tell you to run—you run. If I tell you to get down—you get down. No arguments. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Alpha team,” Rook said into his radio. “Move.”
We watched from the van as Jax and Marcus and three others moved toward the building.
They moved like shadows.
Fast.
Silent.
Two guards stood by the front entrance.
Jax took them down before they even knew he was there.
Chloroform rags over their mouths.
They crumpled.
Dragged into the bushes.
“Lobby secure,” Jax said over the radio.
“Bravo team. Move.”
We exited the van.
Ran across the street.
Through the alley.
To the old service entrance.
Mia picked the lock in under ten seconds.
We slipped inside.
The sub-basement was dark.
Dusty.
Pipes ran along the ceiling.
We found the old freight elevator.
The doors were rusted shut.
Two of Rook’s men pried them open with crowbars.
Inside, just a dark shaft going up forever.
A steel ladder bolted to the wall.
“Forty-two floors,” Rook said. “Let’s move.”
We started climbing.
One by one.
Rook went first.
Leo right behind him.
Then me.
Then Mia.
Then the others.
The higher we went, the hotter it got.
My arms burned.
My legs burned.
My lungs burned.
Forty floors up.
Thirty.
Twenty.
Ten.
We stopped at the forty-first floor landing.
Catching our breath.
Rook peered up through the opening to forty-two.
He listened.
Then he looked down at us.
Held up one finger.
One minute.
He pulled a small device from his pocket.
A radio jammer.
Flipped it on.
All communications on the floor above us would be dead now.
No calls for help.
He signaled Mia.
She pulled a small explosive charge from her bag.
Stuck it to the wall of the shaft right below the forty-second floor opening.
Set the timer.
Ten seconds.
We all turned away.
Covered our ears.
Boom.
Not loud.
More of a sharp crack.
A section of the wall blew inward.
Rook was up and through the hole before the smoke cleared.
Leo right after him.
We poured onto the forty-second floor.
It was chaos.
Men were shouting.
Alarms were blaring.
But the jammer was working.
Nobody could call for backup.
Rook’s men moved through the offices like a storm.
Taking down security guards left and right.
Not shooting.
Using fists and elbows and batons.
Fast.
Brutal.
Efficient.
Rook dragged Leo behind a heavy oak desk.
“Where’s the vault?” he yelled over the noise.
“Dad’s office!” Leo yelled back. “At the end of the hall! Behind the painting!”
“Cover me!” Rook yelled.
He grabbed Leo.
Ran down the hallway.
Bullets started flying now.
Some of Adrian’s men had guns.
They were firing wildly down the hall.
Plaster exploded around us.
We reached Richard’s old office.
Rook kicked the door in.
It was huge.
Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city.
A massive desk.
And on the far wall—the painting.
An old oil portrait of Richard’s father.
Leo ran to it.
Pushed the frame to the side.
A steel door.
The vault.
A biometric scanner next to it.
“Hurry!” Mia yelled from the doorway. “They’re massing! We’ve got maybe two minutes max before they break through!”
Leo placed his thumb on the scanner.
A green light.
“User verified,” a robotic voice said. “Please provide secondary authentication.”
Rook frowned.
“It needs Richard too.”
Then the office door exploded inward.
Adrian Cole stood there.
May you like
Smiling.
Holding a gun to Elena’s head.
